The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a giant in Atlanta and in the entire United States. That might be one of the greatest understatements of all time but it’s worth stating. One of the core things that made him who he was as a civil rights activist and a social justice fighter, was how he saw civil rights in terms of religion and the Bible. One might have thought a Christian minister would have looked to the Christian Bible to find inspiration and an archetype. But rather than basing his understanding of the plight of the black community off the New Testament, he found his motivation and faith in the shape of Moses and the Israelite Exodus. He saw the fight for civil rights of the black community to be the same as our foundational text.
This should not be surprising to anyone. The stories share so much. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers, and many of the African slaves were sold by fellow African tribes. Abraham Lincoln, an outsider, was credited with helping to free the slaves. Moses, a relative outsider as well, was likewise credited with the liberation of our people. The journey to equality following the end of the Civil War took well over a hundred years, and the journey to our homeland, Israel, took forty years. Martin Luther King Jr’s final speech, the final mountain top speech, talked about how he would not be able to see his work through to completion. This was based on Moses who would die on the mountain top and not see us as free people in the Land of Israel. The symmetry is breathtaking and Dr. King took to it and ran. He formed bonds with the Jewish community that were unbreakable. The Jewish involvement in the civil rights movement is well documented and there is no negating our leadership.
This week, we begin this journey all over again as we open the book of שמות/Shemot/Exodus and learn our story all over again. We’ll watch as the new king rises up. We’ll watch as the slavery begins. We’ll see how משה/Moshe/Moses was born and how he was raised. It will peak our interest when משה takes a step towards leadership and defends the Hebrew slave and then flees to the desert. All of this will unfold and then God will call upon משה in the desert at the burning bush and declare for the first time in history that it’s not right to use and abuse other people. It’s not right to enslave a people. It’s not right to think we can own people and do with them what we want.
This revolutionary idea is at the heart of our people and of our faith. Judaism originated the core understanding that all people are made in the image of God and all people have an inherent value and dignity. Judaism brought the core understanding into the world that we owe something to other people. It’s a central Jewish idea that we exist together in the world and we’re each responsible for those around us.
While our people are credited with this incredible innovation and step forward, our story has become universalized in many ways. It’s for this reason Dr. King found it to be the basis of his his story. His “rabbi” was Rabbi Dr. Abraham Joshua Heschel and he explained this in an even better way:
“At the first conference on religion and race, the main participants were Pharaoh and Moses. Moses’ words were: “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, let My people go that they may celebrate a feast to me.” While Pharaoh retorted: “Who is the Lord, that I should heed this voice and let Israel go?” The outcome of that summit meeting has not come to an end … The exodus began, but is far from having been completed.” (Religion and Race - Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel)
The reality is we still have much work to do in our world. We must recognize we can do more to help others. Civil rights are not about black and white people. They’re not about males and females. They’re not about different religions or about sexuality. They’re about all these things and more. Civil rights is the basic understanding that all people matter and we need to work together to ease their burden. It’s in this spirit that we’re partnering with St James United Methodist Church next weekend. We’re working together to forge a better world for all. We’re working together to understand each other a bit better. We’re working together to tackle the modern day plague of homelessness. This is just one of the many expressions of civil rights. We need to continue the work that began with Moses and has happened over all these years through the greats like King and Heschel. When we see people in our world struggling and hurting, it’s essential that we do what we can to ease their pain. Together, we can do this. Please click here and take a moment to sign up to join with us next weekend (January 24 – 26) for Shabbat and for volunteering on Sunday. Shabbat Shalom, Rabbi Hearshen
